Car-heater



* (No Model.)

J. ZIMMERMAN.

GAR HEATER.

No. 309,279. Patented Dec. 16, 1884.

or chamber serving the purpose of an airllniTn STATES PATENT Tricia.

JOHN ZIBIMERMAN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

CAR-HEATER.

EVPECIPICATION forming part of Letters P Application filed January 10,1884.

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, JOHN ZIMMERMAN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, Ohio, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Oar-Heaters, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to heaters for railwaycars, its object being toproduce a simple, cheap, and practicable heater for streetrailway cars,adapted to the exigencies of such service, which can be readily attachedto existing cars and easily operated.

To this end it consists in a containing box heating conduit, in which isremovably placed astovc or firepot holding the incandescent fuel, bymeans of which the air received into the containing chamber is firstheated, and thence delivered,through an upper opening or registerthrough the floor, into the body of the car.

One of the main objects of my invention is to obviate certain practicalobjections to streetcar heaters as heretofore constructed and used, suchas the difficulty of disposing of the smoke in using bituminous fuels,and also of carrying a supply of fresh fueland replenishing the firewhile on the trip. These I overcome by using a removable fire-pot, whichallows me to replace the spent fuel at the end of each trip by aduplicate fire-pot ready prepared for use by the stable attendants,thus'relieving the conductor and driver of the carof all care andresponsibility, by using charcoal, coke, or hard coal brought toincandescence by means independent of the car, and discharging the gasesof combustion beneath the car.

The nature andconstruction of the apparatus employed will be morereadily comprehended by reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure l is a perspective .view of my heater in position beneatha car-platform, the latter being partly broken away to exhibit theapparatus more fully. Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssection of thecontaining -boX or air heating conduit. Fig. is a detached perspective 0view of the containing-box. Fig. 4 is a de gases of combustion.perspective view of the fire-pot.

atent No. 309,279, dated December 16, 1884.

(No model.)

vertical longitudinal section of the apparatus complete. Fig. 7 is adetached view of the hood used to conduct air to the fire-pot formaintaining combustion.

The several parts hereinafter described are designated in the drawingsby letters of reference.

The air-heating chamber A, constructed, preferably, of sheet-iron, is ofsubstantially rectangular form, pierced at the front and sides near thebottom for admission of air. and provided at the top with largeopenings, one of which, B, is a vertical conduit for discharging theheated air into the car, and the other is provided with a hinged lid, 0,and used for removing and replacing the fire-pot. The chamber A ispreferably of suitable width to be retained between the two centralsills, a, of the carframe, and is provided with flanges b, which extendlaterally over upon said sills, thus sustaining the chamber in position.The vertical conduit B .is eX- tended upward sufliciently to passthrough the car-floor, and is similarly flanged to be held upon andfrom'said floor. An ordinary hot-air register may be provided for suchopening; but in general the removable floorgrating of the car willanswer all purposes. The rear wall of the chamber A is slanted to therear upward to aid the discharge of air rearward in the car, the chamberA occupying such a position that its front opening is beneath theforward platform of the car, and the conduit B opens into the carimmediately in rear of the front door.

At the rear end of the chamber A is at tached a short horizontal pipe,D, for the escape of the spent gases of combustion, and is preferablyprovided with two wings or hoods, (1, opening forward to catch the airand assist the draft of air through the incandescent fuel. The fire-potE is also abox approximately rectangular in form, and having a portionof its tophinged as a lid, e, to permit access for replenishing thefuel. From its rear end projects a short section of pipe, 0, adapted tofit and engage with the pipe D. At the front of the firepot is anopening, 0, for admission of air, corresponding with a similar opening,0, in the containing-box, the two being 3' oined by a removable hood, f,when in use, as in Fig. 6, by which the draft generated by the motion ofthe car forward is applied to the incandescent fuel.

From the construction just described it will be seen that the fire-pot Eis in fact partly suspended at front and rear within the airheatingchamber A, the weight of the fire-pot being supported on the bottom ofthe containing-chamber, whereby an annular airspace is formed,surrounding the fire-pot on the sides and top. The air is thus heated onall sides and the useful effect of the fuel largely increased.

The operation of the device is obvious, the fire-pot being removed and asimilar one freshly prepared being inserted at the end of eacl f trip.In practice I prefer to use ordinary charcoal; but coke or anthracitecoal may be used. Suitable gratings are applied to the openings toprevent access of dirt, and also afoot-grating to cover the opening inthe car-platform upon which the driver stands.v

I have thus described and illustrated my invention in simplest form; butit is obvious that many improvements in constructive detail may beintroduced without departing from its spirit. 7

I am aware that car-heaters have been constructed similar to mine,having, a heatingspace exposed to the heating -surface at all sides, atthe top, and at the bottom of an immovable fire-pot, and thatsuchheaters were immovably fixed to the car-frame. My construction,however, allows the heater to be taken off at pleasure, and permits thefire-pot to be removed when exhausted and a newlyprepared one inserted.Moreover, by providing the pipe E easy connection with the hooded smokepipe D is secured, which fea tures, so far as I am aware, are not met inother devices.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 7 Incombination with a street car, an elongated air-heating chamber andconduit provided with flanges adapting it to be suspended between thelongitudinal sills of the carframe, having'an opening in the top forwardbeneath the car platform for the insertion of a fire-pot, and an openingin the top in the rear for the discharge of the heated air into the car,and a short pipe extendingrearward for the escape of the gases ofcombustion'beneath the car, the latter pipebeing provided with afunnel-hood opening forward to stimulate the draft, constructed andarranged to rest beneath the front platform, substantially as described,and for the purpose specified.

In testimonywhereof I have hereuntoset my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN Z IMMERMAN.

' Witnesses:

L. M. HOSEA, G. SHAPPELL.

